Moog Museum To Get Underway

"Moogseum" will honor the legacy of the electronics pioneer while showcasing his works and archives for the public.

By Fred Mills

When BLURT launched nearly a year ago, one of our first-published articles was about the work of the recently established Bob Moog Foundation, based in Asheville (where the Moog plant is located). Titled "Moog In Vogue," it outlined the legacy of the late synthesizer inventor and electronic music pioneer Dr. Robert "Bob" Moog, and the efforts of his daughter, Michelle Moog-Koussa, to restore and preserve his archives, which included a vast collection of writings, irreplaceable memorabilia, and prototypes of many of Moog's vintage instruments.

Even more significant: reel-to-reel tapes, which upon their discovery after Moog's death in 2005 were found to be covered in mold and in varying states of deterioration. The Foundation got a pair of grants from the Grammy Foundation to work on the restoration and preservation of those tapes.

The Foundation has also become active in setting up scholarships for musicians and designing outreach programs to get kids in schools interested in "science, music and creativity," as Moog-Koussa put it. No less a Moog fan than the Smashing Pumpkins also got involved, speaking out on behalf of the Foundation and its principles.

"I strongly believe many people all over the world would benefit from being able to interact with the thoughts, ideas, inventions, and life of Dr. Moog," said Corgan, in a message on the Moog Foundation website, www.moogfoundation.org.

Now those thoughts, ideas and inventions will gain further preservation and exposure with the establishment of a Moog Museum. According to a report in today's Asheville Citizen-Times, the so-called "Moogseum" is being planned thanks to a $600,000 grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. A total of $3 million is needed to bring the project to full fruition, Moog-Koussa told the newspaper, who added that it may take three to five years for everything to be completed. Plans are for a 6000-square-foot facility, presumably to be located in the French Broad River Arts District not far from the downtown area of Asheville.

Meanwhile, plans are to establish a smaller, 1500-square foot "beta" museum this summer along with a companion installation at local rock venue the Orange Peel in order to help keep interest high in the project, which is expected to become a major attraction not only for tourists to the area but for musical scholars worldwide.

And that's the important part of course. Imagine a world without, say, Radiohead. Or MGMT. Or Aphex Twin. Or Nine Inch Nails. Or Suicide. Or Silver Apples. Or even Abbey Road. (Or hell, even without Emerson Lake & Palmer.) The musical landscape circa 2009 would be a vastly different place - and a far less interesting one, at that - had it not been for Dr. Moog.

[Photo courtesy the Bob Moog Foundation]